NEW TOADSTOOL LEATHER-not opening

[lakehorse61]

I bought a large gray/pink toadtool leather. it is placed in the 200 gallon reef about halfway down. it is not touching any other corals but some brown/green zoes are within an inch of its base.

it opened for the first 2 days but hasnt since (5 days). today it has some slim coming off of it. it is in low current. the only irritation i have seen is my lawn mower blenny uses it as a bed at night but not while the lights are on usually.

does it need more current? or light? ... i havent had much luck with leathers but i was hoping it would change. thanks.

[kau_cinta_ku]

sounds like it is shedding, which is normal for a leather to do. just use a turkey baster to help with the slime to get it off or add a little more flow to that area.

[lakehorse61]

when i got home its feeders were out but it is still not fully open. no slimming so it seems to be doing better. it is pinkish instead of gray also.

[Chuck H.]

Hi, I purchased this "Bali Toadstool Leather" on Sunday. It is resting on the SSB of my 65 (see sig. for specs) in a relatively moderate flow area. No other 'verts are touching it. I guess I'm wondering if it will straighten out and "stand up" or if the stalk might stay bent the way it is. I did have it propped up, but it fell over. The following pics do show some polyp extension, but not very much. Any comments would be appreciated.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/14831Bali_Toadstool_Leather_Coral.jpg
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/14831Bali_Toadstool_Leather.jpg

[dez_2121]

looks like there's a lot of toadstool problems going around i got mine around 5 days ago to it opened for the first 2 days and hasn't done anything sence is this normal mine is in a good flow area of my tank

dez

[fsn77]

Chuck H. --
Is that discolored area on your leather mushy? If so, it could be dieing or diseased tissue. I'd suggest cutting off the discolored area if it is indeed mushy or oozing. You can use a razor blade, but when I decided that I'd frag my leather frequently, I found that stainless steel scissors work much more efficiently (just be sure to remove any oil from either before using in your tank).
I've found that our toadstool doesn't like to be unsupported. It does its best when it's pretty much held up by rock. I recently removed ours from the multiple rocks it had attached to (it wasn't very happy with me for a couple of days), as it was starting to droop over where the stalk wasn't supported, and placed it inside of a PVC sleeve that I filled with LR rubble to provide support for the stalk. It's much happier now and stands completely upright.

dez --
Any toadstool that's newly purchased or even moved within the same tank undergoes an adjustment period. Give it some more time to adjust, post again (with pix if possible) if things aren't looking better after another 5 - 7 days.

[dez_2121]

fsn77 sorry about the no pics thing( don't know how to post here ) if you check out my little red house i have plenty of pics there ( photo bucket )

dez

[dez_2121]

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l241/dez_2121/IMG_0180.jpg

just trying to see if this works


dez

[dez_2121]

ok when i first got my toadstool
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l241/dez_2121/S5000219.jpg


and now

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l241/dez_2121/IMG_0137.jpg

i know its kinda crapy pic but best i can do tonight and sorry about the other pic trying to learn my cam and RC pic posting

[lakehorse61]

My toadstool never fell over. it has always been standing straight up with no diseased markings. it tenacles just werent coming out but now seems to be fine.

[Reefholic]

toadstool is very hardy, just give it some time it'll straighten out by itself...unless you want to prop it up with crutches...lol

[fsn77]

dez --
Did it start to look like that before or after you moved it? (It's in different spots in the two pix.) I'd give it some more time before worrying about anything.

[Chuck H.]

fsn77,
Thanks for the reply. No, the lighter, discolored area does not seem to be mushy. I think I'm going to give this guy a few more days to show signs of life before I start cutting. I might take off the bottom, bent portion of the stalk and the light colored area and hope the rest takes care of itself. Again, thanks for the reply.

[fsn77]

Chuck --
No problem. Giving it some more time does seem like the best thing to do at this point. If that tissue isn't mushy, I'd leave it alone as you said. If you want to trim off the areas you don't like, I'd wait until a couple of weeks after it starts to look normal.

[dez_2121]

fsn77 it looked like that before i moved it. i moved it to a higher flow area because of the slime that was coming off it but i moved it back yesterday and was going to let it be for awhile but i must move it yet again because its near my starry blennie hide out and fave algae eatting spot so it bumbs and bugs it often. only thing is my BTA has not settled down to one spot yet and i don't want them to get to close

dez

oh and sorry for the jack

[fsn77]

Chuck / dez -- Any improvement?

[Chuck H.]

I'll try to send a pic later today. I had to frag the cap as it almost completely turned pale with absolutely no polyp extension. I have one little slice that has some polyps, it's a tad bigger than a nickle. I'm dissapointed, but if this frag does okay, I guess it will all work out in the end. Although the cap wasn't mushy, it did look like cheese and I've read that is not good, so I thought it best to cut off the remaining portion that still looked okay.

[Chuck H.]

Well here is what's left of the toadstool in my pics above. If you notice the lighter color area on the left side of the above photos, that eventually covered approximately the entire 3-4" diameter cap. I fragged a small piece in a pie shape yesterday and here it is just 15 minutes ago. I never had this much polyp extension at all, so I'm thinking I did the right thing.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/14831Bali_Toadstool_Frag_Side_View.jpg